Naked violinist sues over what he claims was unlawful arrest

A man is seeking at least $1.1 million in a lawsuit against the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, Portland Police Bureau and others after he claims he was dragged, injured and taunted by police when he was arrested in 2014 during a nude demonstration outside the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon. Matthew T. Mglej, 25, of Hillsboro, is alleging unlawful arrest and detention, use of excessive force, malicious prosecution, First Amendment rights violation, cruel and unusual punishment, battery, assault and negligence by authorities in a lawsuit filed in US District Court on Jan. 20.



Portland police said Mglej was the source of several complaints when he was playing a violin and making signs while naked outside the Mark O. Hatfield Courthouse last May. He was arrested after being told his nudity violated city code and was carried into a patrol car when he refused to walk on his own, police said. A section of Portland's City Code declares it "unlawful for any person to expose his or her genitalia while in a public place or place visible from a public place, if the public place is open or available to persons of the opposite sex."

Mglej claims he arrived at the courthouse in a "designer suit" with his service dog, Belle, an iPad, violin and other items, and soon stripped off his clothes for a demonstration, according to the lawsuit. Mglej played his violin and wrote messages quoting Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as passers-by "took pictures, chanted, cheered and endorsed" the display. Four Portland police officers told Mglej to stop, but he claims he cited a section of the Oregon Constitution and court verdicts on his iPad that he believed made his demonstration legal. The officers left after more than an hour, according to the lawsuit, leading to cheers and gifts from the crowd. Officers came back as Mglej was meditating, arrested him and put his dog in the back of a patrol car.



He was picked up and dropped several times and then dragged on the ground on the way to the patrol car, according to the lawsuit. While at the Multnomah County Detection Center, he claims jail deputies cut his wrists and hands by twisting and jerking on his handcuffs and called him a "cry baby" and hurled other insults at him when he cried from the pain and for his service dog. Mglej claims he was held for around 24 hours in an isolated cell without food, water, medical attention from a doctor or a phone call with a lawyer. Mglej pleaded not guilty to indecent exposure four days after his arrest. He is next scheduled to next appear in Multnomah County Circuit Court for a hearing in that matter on Feb. 17.